Kenya Industry and Entrepreneurship

The development objective of the Industry and Entrepreneurship Project for Kenya is to increase innovation and productivity in select private sector firms. It has three components. First component, strengthening the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem aims to improve the survival and growth rates of technology-enabled startups in Kenya through a stronger innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem and talent base; Second component, SME linkages and upgrading aims to strengthen the productivity and internal capabilities for innovation of Kenyan SMEs, so that they can better compete for local and international market opportunities. It will support SMEs in improving their managerial and technical skills and their use and access to technology, and contribute towards the creation of local content. This component will finance diagnostics and performance-based contracts to select SMEs; Third component, outreach, M&E, and project implementation support is to provide resources for: (a) communications to facilitate diffusion and replication of promising innovations, (b) monitoring and evaluation (M&E) analyses to ensure the implementation and sustainability of the Project’s activities, and (c) project implementation support, through the Project Implementation Unit (PIU). This component will finance the design and implementation of an overall Project communications strategy, and dissemination tools to inform stakeholders on the Project’s progress and facilitate replicability of early success stories.